Primary Device
Aruba AP-535
★ 3.2 Value Score
Technical Specifications
- Wi-Fi Standard: Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax)
- Spatial Streams (MIMO): 4x4:4 MU-MIMO
- Aggregate Throughput: 3.55 Gbps (2.4 Gbps @ 5GHz, 1.15 Gbps @ 2.4GHz)
- Radios (bands): Dual-band (5 GHz, 2.4 GHz)
- Uplink Port Speed: 2 x HPE Smart Rate RJ-45 (up to 5 Gbps)
- Max Clients: 1,024 per radio (2,048 total)
- PoE Requirement: 802.3at (PoE+) or 802.3bt (PoE++)
Curation Review
- ✔ Pros: High-density support for up to 1,024 clients per radio; Integrated BLE 5.0 and Zigbee for IoT applications; Dual multi-gigabit (5GbE) uplink ports for redundancy and bandwidth
- ✘ Cons: High initial capital expenditure compared to mid-range Wi-Fi 6 APs; Requires high PoE budget (PoE+/PoE++) for full feature set; Large physical size and weight (1.27kg) compared to standard APs
- Est. Price: $900 - $1,600
Compare Against
Ubiquiti UniFi U7 Pro Max
★ 5.0 Value Score
Technical Specifications
- Wi-Fi Standard: WiFi 7 (802.11be)
- Spatial Streams (MIMO): 8 Streams (2x2 2.4 GHz, 4x4 5 GHz, 2x2 6 GHz)
- Aggregate Throughput: 15.1 Gbps
- Radios (bands): Tri-band (2.4, 5, 6 GHz)
- Uplink Port Speed: 2.5 GbE RJ45
- Max Clients: 500+
- PoE Requirement: PoE+ (802.3at)
Curation Review
- ✔ Pros: Industry-leading WiFi 7 performance, dedicated spectral scanning engine for real-time interference analysis, high density support for 500+ clients, and seamless integration into the UniFi ecosystem.
- ✘ Cons: Requires PoE+ (802.3at) power source, 2.5 GbE uplink may bottleneck the 15 Gbps theoretical aggregate wireless throughput, and requires a UniFi Console or Network Server for configuration.
- Est. Price: $270 - $299